About the work
Koto of Joy is a three-act play Yukio Mishima wrote in 1963 as a New Year piece for the Bungakuza theatre company, loosely inspired by the 1949 Matsukawa train-derailment case. Its planned November 1963 premiere was cancelled; the delayed opening finally took place on 7 May 1964 at Tokyo's Nissei Theatre, directed by Keita Asari.
Plot
Young, staunchly anti-communist security officer Katagiri idolises his superior Matsumura and hunts suspected leftist saboteurs plotting a train derailment. Katagiri catches the supposed culprits and is hailed as a hero — until the police chief reveals that Matsumura himself is a communist spy. Shaken, Katagiri alone hears a ghostly koto melody as the play ends.
Cultural significance
Communist-leaning Bungakuza members led by actress Haruko Sugimura refused to speak Katagiri's anti-communist lines and forced the original premiere's cancellation. The dispute, known as the "Harp of Joy incident," split the company: Mishima left with roughly ten colleagues to found the new troupe Gekidan NLT, which finally staged the play in 1964.